GML sharing insights across archaeology, planning and housing during May
This month, GML’s leaders will contribute to a range of public programs, panel discussions and industry events exploring some of the key issues shaping archaeology, heritage, planning and the built environment.
From the archaeology of food and the stewardship of artefacts in rapidly growing cities, to housing history and Canberra’s planned landscape, the events bring together leading voices from across the sector to examine how we understand, manage and shape places over time.
Contested Ground: Archaeology and Urban Development
Wednesday 20 May | 6.00pm–7.00pm
Museum of Sydney
As cities evolve, traces of the past continue to emerge through urban excavation. But what happens to the artefacts uncovered during development, and who is responsible for their preservation? GML CEO Sharon Veale will join leading voices from archaeology, heritage and urban development for Contested Ground: Archaeology and Urban Development, a panel discussion examining the challenges of caring for archaeological heritage within rapidly changing urban environments. The discussion will explore questions of stewardship, preservation and the future of Australia’s archaeological collections.
Archaeologies of Food in Australia
Thursday 21 May | 2.00pm–3.30pm
Australian National Maritime Museum
As part of National Archaeology Week, GML Principal and archaeologist Dr Tim Owen will join a panel discussion exploring food as a powerful lens into Australia’s past. Archaeologies of Food in Australia will examine how food practices are deeply connected to community, identity and cultural life, and how archaeological and historical approaches to material culture can reveal changing foodways and the social worlds they sustained.
Sydney Open Symposium: Home Truths
Saturday 23 May | 10.00am–3.00pm
Illlumina Sydney
This year’s Sydney Open Symposium, Home Truths, will bring together industry experts and thought leaders to discuss affordability, sustainability, architecture, policy and housing history. Head of Heritage Places Rebecca Hawcroft will join the symposium program as part of the panel discussion Radical Architecture: Moments in History that Transformed Housing in NSW. The session will explore the events, ideas and individuals that reshaped how homes in New South Wales have been designed and built over time.
PIA Planning Congress 2026
20–23 May | Canberra
This year’s PIA Planning Congress takes place in Canberra, coinciding with the 150th anniversary of Walter Burley Griffin, the Chicago-born architect whose winning design for Australia’s federal capital continues to shape the city today.
Known as the Griffin Plan of 1912, the masterplan established the framework for Canberra’s Central National Area, including the National Triangle and Parliamentary Zone. Combining aesthetic ambition with practical ideals, the plan envisioned a city rich in green spaces, free from heavy industry and offering diverse housing opportunities.
GML Principal and Director Rachel Jackson will present a paper exploring Canberra’s planning paradox through three defining phases: the original Griffin Plan; the mid-twentieth-century development led by the National Capital Development Commission (NCDC); and the contemporary era of self-government shaped by dual planning and heritage legislation.
GML is also supporting the Congress through the study tour The Griffins’ Plan for Canberra. Travelling through the Central National Area, participants will experience key vistas, landmark sites and lesser-known places that reveal the layered story of Canberra’s planned landscape.
